About one in three U.S. adults ages 18 to 34 live in their parents' home, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
The pandemic caused more young adults in their late 20s or 30s to return home or live with their parents, but other than that increase, the numbers have remained fairly consistent in recent years.
According to the Census Bureau, the most recent increase in the share of 18- to 34-year-olds living with their parents before the pandemic occurred between 2005 and 2015.
“Those were the times to come [during] “The Great Recession and coming out of the Great Recession, and there were a lot of media reports at the time about Millennials eating too much avocado toast to live on their own,” said Joanne Hsu, a research associate at the University of Michigan who co-authored one 2015 study on “boomerang” children for the Federal Reserve.
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“We found that this increase in young adults not leaving or returning to the nest is partly due to the idea that it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to survive shocks,” Hsu said.
Economic shocks are significant and unexpected events that disrupt financial stability and markets and then affect household income, employment and debt levels. The 2008 financial crisis, the Great Recession, and the pandemic are examples of economic shocks.
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“Why rent it out and give my money to someone else?”
Victoria Franklin (left) has lived in Oceanport, New Jersey with her mother Terilyn Franklin (right) since graduating from college in 2019.
Natalie Rice | CNBC
Victoria Franklin, 27, moved back to her mother's house in the summer of 2019 after graduating from college to look for a job in business administration.
“I ended up working as a bartender and waitress until October [of 2019]where I got my first offer,” Franklin said. “So it took a little longer than I expected.”
She found a job in her field in New York City, which required a two-hour drive from her mother's home on the Jersey Shore.
“I thought, you know, in about six months I'm moving to the city to be closer to work,” Franklin said. “And the pandemic has thrown a wrench into these plans.”
Franklin decided to continue living at her mother's home after transitioning to a fully remote job in the fall of 2023.
“My mentality is, 'Why rent my money out and give it to someone else when I can start owning it?'” Franklin said.
Franklin said she saves between 40 and 50 percent of her income, with “a large portion” going toward a down payment on a house.
While living with parents can bring personal financial benefits, experts say this trend can have a negative impact on the economy.
“We also have a situation where what is really good for a single person or a single family is not necessarily good for the entire macroeconomy,” Hsu said. “One of the big drivers of consumer spending comes when people start households.”
The Federal Reserve estimated in a 2019 paper that young adults who move out of their parents' home would spend about $13,000 more per year on things like housing, food and transportation.
Watch them video Above, learn more about why the trend of young adults living with their parents continues and what it means for the economy.